Daviess County repeated as 9th District volleyball tournament champions after defeating Owensboro Catholic in a five-set thriller in front of an electric crowd on Thursday night. It was a back-and-forth match for much of the evening, but the Lady Panthers prevailed 3-2 (25-23, 22-25, 26-24, 21-25, 16-14).
Daviess County (19-9, 7-1 9th district) was resilient on the offensive end, firing off consecutive hard hits but struggling to crack a consistent Catholic (25-12, 5-3 9th District) defense.
“Catholic is always a solid defensive team; they made it tough for us,” said Daviess County Head Coach Tyla Bailey. “We knew we would have to switch up the tempo, and when we did, we executed. I’m very pleased with the way we fought for the duration of the match.”
Daviess County jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in set five after two aces by Emma Rogers before surrendering a 10-5 run to Catholic. The Lady Panthers then pushed ahead 14-12, though the Lady Aces responded with consecutive kills by Paige Miles and Olivia Castlen to tie the final set at 14-14.
Junior Josie Newcom finished the final frame with two consecutive kills, propelling the Lady Panthers to their second district championship in as many years.
“I am very pleased with the way each girl on the team played tonight,” Bailey said. “Everyone fulfilled their roles, and we even asked some girls to take on some roles that they aren’t familiar with, and they stepped up.”
While still pleased with his team’s performance, longtime Catholic Head Coach Brian Hardison alluded to some areas for improvement.
“I thought both teams played really solid all night,” Hardison said. “We had a couple of times where we didn’t cover what we were supposed to be covering, but we’ll definitely work on that.”
The contest marks the second straight year that Daviess County and Catholic have met in the district championship. Hardison was eager to earn a No. 1 seed entering the regional tournament but said his team is definitely up for any challenge that’s thrown their way.
“Our defense has been great; I think it’s been great since camp. I feel like we have the best back row,” he said. “We’ll have to play hard to make it to the region championship because everybody is a tough out right now. We just need to come out and put the ball away. We were hitting into the block a lot tonight, so that’s something we’ll work on.”
Daviess County jumped out to an early 9-5 lead in the first set on a series of Josie Newcom serves before succumbing to a 10-13 run by Catholic. With the set tied at 19-19, the Lady Panthers rallied late to come out on top 25-23.
Despite a close start, the Lady Aces pulled out to a 16-8 lead in set two and extended it to 19-11 before the Lady Panthers compiled an aggressive run. It wasn’t enough for a tidy Catholic defense that put away Daviess County 25-22.
The next two sets were much of the same, featuring small runs for both teams as they stayed close and split sets three and four.
Newcom led the charge offensively for the Lady Panthers with a game-high 17 kills while Mary Grace Hill added 15 of her own to go with Lexi Owen’s 16 assists. Owens contributed on the defensive end as well, as she and Sydney DeRossitt tallied 18 digs. Adylan Ayer led the team with six blocks.
The Lady Aces were led in kills by Cate Sights with 14, while Hadley Latham added 13. Kennedy Murphy secured 29 assists, while Emily Christian recorded 19 digs.
Both Owensboro Catholic and Daviess County will advance to the 3rd Region tournament slated to begin next week. Owensboro Catholic will host the tournament in their high school gymnasium.
